McEntee urges ‘clearer protocol’ for schools after series of bomb threats

The Defence Minister has indicated that a “clearer protocol” should be provided for schools after a series of bomb threats were made in recent days.

Schools and authorities were praised for their quick response, as Helen McEntee slammed those behind the threats, saying they had caused disruption and instilled fear.

Gardaí said they were aware of a “generic communication” that had been sent to a number of educational establishments, which were later assessed as “not credible”.

Schools were advised to remain open but with a fresh round of bomb hoaxes targeting schools, there have been calls for the Government to set out clearer protocols for schools to follow in the event of a bomb threat.

Ms McEntee said: “I’m not sure anybody was expecting this to happen to schools.

“It’s not a normal situation, and thankfully, it’s not something that has happened regularly, or indeed, it’s not since I can remember.

“Schools, I think, responded extremely well, and I’ve spoken to some principals, staff members, teachers, and while some schools responded differently, everybody front and centre of their actions, it was student safety, staff safety, and how do we engage with the gardaí as quickly as possible.”

“The gardaí have said very clearly that if it was a threat like this comes in again, the first thing to do is to engage directly with the gardaí, but also to take decisions within the school as to what is appropriate for that individual school.

“But I think we need to learn lessons from the last 24 hours. I think if there is a clearer protocol that needs to be provided for schools, that we do that.

“If there is a clearer route to engage with the gardaí, that we put that in place and that we listen to the teachers and to the staff.”

Ms McEntee commended gardaí and school staff.

“It’s not the norm, and I’m sure you know. For those that thought this would cause disruption, it also instils fear, I think, in people as well.”

The Fine Gael minister also said she does not believe there has been an overreaction to the threats.

“I think very naturally, it’s a concern for anybody to receive a phone call, to receive an email, to be put in that type of a situation,” she added.

“The principal of a school, it’s not a normal situation to be in, and people are doing this for two reasons: firstly, to cause disruption, but also to instil fear.

“We know it’s not just happened here in Ireland.

“We’ve seen it happen in Northern Ireland, in Italy, and this is right on the back of hoaxes that obviously had huge implications for airspace and, in particular, for planes as well that had come directly from Ireland.

“There’s a lot of work happening at the moment across our agencies. Gardaí, working with Europol, our Commission as well, particularly from the transport side, to see are these interconnected.

“I’ve seen here in the past in Ireland, where you have these types of hoaxes, where they then become replicated, and where you have copycats issuing the same types of threats.

“So it’s scary for people when they’re not used to this, or when they haven’t experienced this before.

“However, we have to take all of these extremely seriously. We need to make sure, first and foremost, that we have the correct protocols in place, that people’s safety is front and centre in any actions that are taken.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that schools and other agencies targeted in bomb hoax threats should follow the advice of gardaí.

“They’re best placed to make judgment calls in respect of this, and we would say and advise people in schools to refer to the gardaí and to take the advice of the gardaí,” he said.

“The gardaí have established protocols in respect of the threats of this kind.”